PARIS — An Otisfield man appeared in court Friday on charges that he stole a truck and wrecked it in a horrific crash last week. 

In handcuffs and wearing a neck brace, Mark C. Male, 46, of 251 Ahonen Road, made his initial court appearance before a judge in Oxford County Superior Court on Friday morning. He is charged with Class C theft by unauthorized taking and aggravated criminal mischief.

Police said he hopped into a man’s pickup truck on Ahonen Road in Otisfield on Nov. 11, drove a few miles onto East Swampville Road and lost control of the truck, which flipped over several times before breaking apart. 

The truck swerved into a ditch, struck a low stonewall, rolled several times and landed upside down on the one-lane dirt road, police said. The impact ripped off the cab, twisted the frame, demolished the bed and left the tailgate almost 50 yards from where the truck stopped.

Cans of Twisted Tea, plastic containers and mechanic’s tools were strewn along a 150-foot stretch of road, which runs between Bell Hill and Bolsters Mill roads.

Male dragged himself out from beneath the cab, which was ripped from the chassis. As he was being treated by first responders for lacerations, he reportedly asked if anyone else had been injured, according to an affidavit by Maine State Police Trooper Adam Fillebrown.

Male was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for treatment serious facial lacerations.

He was arrested Thursday after being released from the hospital.

Mark McAllister, the owner of the 2004 Ford Ranger demolished in the crash, told Fillebrown he was working at a woodlot on Ahonen Road and left the keys inside the unlocked truck, according to an affidavit. McAllister, who told police he didn’t know Male, was unsure where his truck was and assumed his boss had borrowed it. The estimated value of the truck was more than $2,000.  

Bail was set at $500 cash over objections that Male was unemployed and had little value in assets. He has prior convictions of assault on a police officer and burglary from more than a decade ago, according to court records. 

The case has been continued to March 3, 2015.

The Otisfield crash came two days after Male was charged with driving to endanger, operating under the influence of drugs and possession of scheduled drugs in an unrelated incident in Norway, according to police.

ccrosby@sunjournal.com

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